Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, First Primus West Africa Limited, Otunba Seni Adetu, and the Executive Director, Education, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Dr. Noel Tagoe,have advised Nigerian undergraduates to remain focused and be more strategic in the application of their skills in their various endeavours in order to be successful.

Speaking at an Open Day session organised for members of the CIMA Undergraduate Club from the University of Lagos (UNILAG) at the Lagos Headquarters of First Primus West Africa in Lagos. Adetu and Tagoe in their speeches to the students said the youth must have clearly defined aspirations and objectives, and must define how they would like to achieve it.

Mr. Adetu, who is also a Director at Fidelity Bank, mentioned that while education is a vital tool which grooms the mind of an individual in understanding the dynamics of life, it is not an outright determinant indefining the level of success of a person.

Making reference to his progression as a senior leader in business, Mr. Adetu said young people must open their mind to the possibilities of life irrespective of their educational qualification, and should endeavour to employ their skills in the best possible way, as evidenced by the way he has become a renowned name in marketing, despite having a first degree in Chemical Engineering.

“It is no longer about what your first degree is. Increasingly, we are seeing that successful people in different positions today did not necessarily possess the background of the profession at the first instance. Increasingly, what we are seeing in the world is that with all honesty, education is only a tool to create the mind, to expand the mind, and open the mind for what is out there. So at times, it is about application. Education enables you to open your mind to the possibilities of life and then, what you choose to do and how you apply yourself to achieve it is what determines whether you are successful or not”, Adetu said.

On his own part, Dr. Tagoe told the CIMA undergraduate club members that everyone can achieve whatever they want to attain in life. To be successful however, Dr. Tagoe said individuals must be ambitious and must learn to think big.

“We do not have a sense of this is what I can do. You can do whatever you want to do. You can become whatever you choose to become.If you look at where I came from, a completely different situation. I was comfortable where I was, but I just had ambition, I just said I was going to take a risk. Be ruthlessly ambitious, think big, and in Africa now, we need big thinkers, especially in place of where we are now,” he said.

Dr.Tagoe, while encouraging young people to learn from failure, also implored them to stop procrastinating and instead, take concrete actions in doing things that could have an impact.

He said; “Take action, just do it. All talk id nothing. You see, when you talk, it goes off, it does not establish anything, at most, it annoys some people. When you think, it’s only in your head. When you do it, it changes the fact on the ground.”

Mr. Adetu commended CIMA for setting up the CIMA Undergraduate Club across tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Mr. Adetu remarked that he was happy in supporting the CIMA UC initiative because it seeks to transfer knowledge and equip the future generation with leadership skills to prepare them for the real world. This he disclosed, tallies with his own life purpose of investing in the development and inspiring a new generation of leaders in a bid to resolve the employability and leadership issues currently associated with the Nigerian youth.

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Olusegun Fapohunda is the founder and editor of MySchoolGist. He loves to share education news from various sources to keep readers informed. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Facebook and Twitter